If you’re a lover of onions and a dog owner, you may have found yourself wondering can dogs eat onions? The truth is onions are not safe for dogs to eat. If dogs eat onions they can become very sick. Onions have a substance in them called thiosulfate, and dogs do not possess the enzyme needed to digest thiosulfate.
Onions also contain a toxic compound, organosulfur or N-propyl disulfide, that causes toxicosis. This organosulfur compound causes a breakdown of red blood cells and can lead to a condition known as hemolytic anemia.
Can Dogs Eat Onions Raw?
Dogs should not eat raw onions, as mentioned before, onions contain things not compatible to a dog’s digestive system. A very small amount of onion might be fine, but if your dog eats too much raw onion, you should keep a look out for symptoms like lethargy, pale gums, reddish urine, fainting, weakness, and decreased appetite.
Onion powder is more potent than raw onions and therefore should be put up where your pet cannot get to and ingest it. Other conditions can be connected to hemolytic anemia, so please get an accurate examination and judgement from a licensed vet to make sure your pet gets the best and accurate care.
Can Dogs Eat Cooked Onions?
Cooked onions should not be consumed by dogs. It does not matter what form the onions are in, if dogs eat too much onion they can get severely ill. Some symptoms of onion poisoning are vomiting, panting, and an elevated heart rate. Your vet can diagnose your pet if it experiences any toxicity symptoms, so it is important to take your pet to your vet as soon as possible to get an accurate diagnosis.
If your vet finds hemolytic anemia or some formation of Heinz bodies in a blood smear, and your pet has a history of recent onion consumption, then the signs would point towards onion toxicity. Your pet may need a blood transfusion to treat your dog successfully, because onion toxicity is sometimes fatal, it is very important to get your pet to the vet very quickly to better the chance of survival.
How Much Onions Can Dogs Eat?
If your dog does eat onions, keep in mind onions are toxic for dogs in large amounts. If a dog weighing 45 pounds ate a medium or large sized onion, it could experience some dangerous toxicity levels. 100 grams of onion per 20 kilograms of the dog’s weight is all it takes to cause the toxic effects. Since most dogs tend to consume everything unattended, it is something to be concerned about.
Dogs can eat small amounts of onion, but not too often. Symptoms can vary and depend on the amount of onions your dog eats, the dogs size, and the period of time during which the onions were eaten. So, if a pet eats a large amount in a single sitting it is not as dangerous as your pet eating a much smaller quantity over a longer period of time.